The current generation Baskarans

The Baskaran clan was been whittled down quite a bit .Ravi , the eldest of us and I are the only surviving members of our parents children.Ravi and Marie live in Chennai and have  three children , Bobby,Nicky & Sandhya.My children are Seema & Shirish and Deepa is my wife .Hema’s children are Vidya ,Reena & Deepa and her husband Vijayaraghavan lives in Coimbatore. Venu’s wife Geetha & son Anand live in Bangalore.Jaya’s wife Prithi lives in Chennai and her sons Sanjay and Rajesh live and work in Canada & the US respectively.Let me now talk about the next generation of the Baskarans. We are few now but the spirit of the family , which I can simply call the HARTLAND spirit lives on in the new generation.Our get togethers are all aimed to see that the next generation remains as close as we have always been and the spirit of Hartland continues for ever in them and in their children .The next generation is still to really proliferate , if I can use that term, but I guess they sure will with the passage of time .Here then is a brief on the next generation of the Baskarans.

Vidya is a teacher in Vasant Valley School in Delhi , she has built her career around teaching and is an accomplished academician.Her husband Suren is a retired Wing Commander in the Technical Wing of the Air Force and is currently working with a private firm .Their daughter Shilpa is a talented singer and stage performer who has completed her graduation and is on the verge of going for her Masters in the US.The family lives in Gurgaon.

Reena married Dinesh who was settled in Australia and moved there over 17 years ago .She works in a bank in Melboune and is doing well in her career. She unfortunately has seperated from her husband and lives with her two sons Rohan & Niketh, both of whom are studing in school. Deepa married Kanak and there are presently based in Muscat.They have a daughter Sneha who is studying in a school in Muscat .

With Reena & Deepa living abroad and meeting all of us very very rarely ,they and their children must fast be losing touch with the clan .Hopefully the Hartland spirit remains in them. Their husbands have had little contact with us and so the intergration with the rest of our family is low.Vidya as the lone family member from Hema’s side living in India, does have a major role to play in staying in touch and participating in family events .Unfortunately her participation so far has been very low .Hopefully in the times to come this will change .We all do keep in touch through the odd phone calls , the b’day and new year greetings etc , but this is not the same as participating in the family events.Vijayettan has been in poor health for the past few years and hence had not travelled outside Coimbatore .It is for all of us to stay connected with him and visit him from time to time .

Anand married Reshma and they are settled in B’lore .They have no children as of now. Anand has built a career in Marketing and mass communication and is currently working with AOL in B’lore. Anand has been a pivotal member of the family in all family events and get togethers and has been playing his part fully in keping the Hartland spirit alive and so has Reshma , who is fully intergrated into the Baskaran clan.

Ravi’s son Bobby married Gillean and they are settled in Melbourne .Bobby is very musically inclined and was a founding member of the popular Rock Band Moksha .He is a very good singer too.Curently he has established a start up company with a few friends in Melbourne, and working on billing & related s/w applications for Telecom Operators.He is looking for opportunities to expand the business into India.They still dont have children .Gillean had the opportunity to meet and participate in our family get together in Pondi and I’m sure she has intergrated well into the clan. Nicky is working with a US owned group Target, in their off shore operations in B’lore .He is still a batchelor.Sandhya recently married Sandeep.Sandeep is doing his Masters in Aeronautical Engineering in Montreal .He is also working on a project with Rolls Royce .Sandhya is into HR with the Murgappa group in Chennai at the moment.Like Gillean , Sandeep too wil be an integral part of the clan.

Sanjay completed his Masters in Business Management from the Michican State University and is currently with the HSBC bank in the US, but is now on deputation to Toronto in Canada.He is engaged to Lyinda , a US citizen of Korean decent .Rajesh completed his Masters in Chemical Engineering, also from the Michican State University and is currently working in Houstan .Rajesh was a Gold Medal winner in his Chemical Engineering Batch at Osmania University ,Hyderabad .He is still a batchelor.

Gopi married Marie Celine but since his passing away we have not been in contact with her .They had no children .

My daughter Seema married Darshan and they are presently based at Noida.Darshan is a Sales Manager with Citi Financial Services.Seema , never one to build a career , is working with a software firm in Noida as a Technical Writer and doing quite well there.Shirish is in the final term of Electrical Engineering at McGill University in Montreal .He has completed a 16 month internship with Research In Motion and will join RIM as soon as his studies are over in May this year .

So that then is a quick run down on the current generation of the Baskarans, may their tribe increase!!

It would be most in appropriate if I didnt mention my sisters in law Prithi and Geetha .Both of them have really been the heart and soul of the Baskaran family after our parents passed away and their respective husbands passed away too. No words of praise are good enough for the strong bonding they have provided for our family.They truely carry the Hartland spirit in every way.

 

 

Sandhya’s wedding

 

Weddings are great times for family get togethers  and Sandhya’s was no exception.We did miss Seema & Darshan , and also Sanjay & Lyinda and Rajesh .Cho & Abhijeet came along as also Nandi .Aruna couldnt make it as she had to attend another wedding at B’lore at the same time .Vidya & Suren also didnt make it sothere was no representation from Hema’s side of the family.

The evening before had the traditional ‘ arrie nurrikaling’ ceremony that Sandhya was very keen on . The drinks and general bonhommie made for a wonderful evening .The wedding ceremony it self ,at St Thomas English Church was a lovely event .The singing of hymns , the exchange of vows and the sermon bythe priest all added to a fairly tale touch. The reception in the evening also had unique touches with the toasts proposed by Ravi,the Toast Master, and by the Groom’s father and the Groom. The Grand March and dances thereafter were a great touch  of comraderie to the evening .The reception thrown by Sandeep’s parents had it’s own uniqueness .The evening was designed to get the close family members of both sides to get to know each other .In keeping with Sandeep’s father’s Management Consultancy background , the evening had a set of ice breakers and games.In spite of delayed arrival by the guests , partly out of sheer habit and partly due to traffic snarls , the evening was fullof fun and the ice breakers served their purpose.

It was then time for the family bash at Pondicherry.We stayed at the St James Court Resort , which turned out to be a reasonably good place besides the beach.These family get togethers are now becoming have become a tradtion with our family and I do believe they will continue to keep our family and children very close to each other.

The presence of great singers like Bobby & Melissa added to the fun .Great guitar work by Sandeep & Bobby also helped add gaiety to the evening of fun & dance.To top it all of ,Sandeep & Sandhya passed through Delhi on their way to Shimla and stayed with us for a spell and so did Bobby & Gillean completing the great family reunion we had .We took loads of photos .. have attached a few representative ones